Stephen King’s fantastic epic adventure gets underway with this stellar, yet surprising short entry into what will be a massive tome, The Gunslinger. Starting with the iconic line. “the man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed” one can’t help but be swept up in the epic western style fantasy. The Man…
Tag: Stephen King
Black House (2001) – Stephen King & Peter Straub
Back in 1984, Stephen King and Peter Straub paired up to craft a titanic fantasy novel known as The Talisman. Seventeen years later they paired up again to create a sequel to the tale that brought (Travelin’) Jack Sawyer back into the lives of readers. It’s some twenty odd years later, Jack Sawyer is 31,…
Cujo (1981) – Stephen King
This week’s visit to the Book Shelf brings me another early King classic. Apparently he wrote this one quickly, and was under the influence while he did, and doesn’t even remember it. Unlike some of his other earlier works, this one didn’t wow me, and for the first time I came across a King story…
The Long Walk (1979) – Stephen King as Richard Bachman
King’s first novel, written, not published, is a gripping thriller that terrifies and captivates, from the first page to it’s haunting conclusion. Writing under his pseudonym of Richard Bachman, the story follows Ray Garraty a young teen in an alternate timeline where a totalitarian government has assumed control, and all of it is overseen by…
The Running Man (1982) – Stephen King as Richard Bachman
Despite being a fan of the 87 Schwarzenegger flick, I’d never read the original source material, so being long past due, I dug into it and was delighted to find that the novel was a completely different experience, and worthy of a cinematic adaptation in its own right. Ben Richards lives in the slums, a…
Cycle of the Werewolf (1983) – Stephen King
Reading like a cross between Our Town and The Wolfman, Stephen King’s too short novella, Cycle of the Werewolf is on the Book Shelf this week. Serving as the basis of the 1985 film, Silver Bullet, Werewolf reads as a not fleshed out enough short story. That’s not to say it doesn’t work. It does….
It (2017) – Andy Muschietti
The crowd-pleasing big screen remake of Stephen King’s 1986 novel, It, brings the scares home today thanks to Warner Brothers. Debuting on blu-ray and DVD the entertaining, updated adaptation will make you float too as you visit the town of Derry, Maine. A town of secrets, and terrors in this wonderful coming of age tale….
The Colorado Kid (2005) – Stephen King
I’m a fan of Stephen King, as most people who follow the blog would know, as they have seen me revisit some of my favourite stories and novels. I was also a huge fan of the television show, Haven, when it aired, delighting in the tie-ins it made to the worlds King had created. But…
The Magnificent Seven (1960) – John Sturges
That music, that cast… It’s no wonder that Sturges’ Americanisation of Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai is one of my all time favourite westerns, and the first recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of The Wild Bunch. Elmer Bernstein’s rousing and memorable score supports Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Eli…
A Wrinkle in Time (1963) – Madeleine L’Engle
Somehow this was a book that slipped though the cracks of my childhood, and it never found its way home from the school library with me. I figured I am long overdue to review this one, and considering it’s considered a classic of both the science fiction and fantasy genres it was time to dig…
The Mind Reels 